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SWHOA annual meeting and elections rescheduled for Jan 16th

Discussion in 'Broadlands Community Issues' started by cogs, Dec 19, 2013.

  1. cogs

    cogs Well-Known Member

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    They could not establish quorum today. There were only 39 proxies where as they need 111 for the quorum. January's monthly meeting will become the new annual meeting and date of elections. From what I understand, SWHOA will be sending the the proxies again.

    There was a discussion about having the candidate names printed on the Proxy. Mr. Salas, election officer asked for submissions asap to have the name printed on the proxy.

    So, if anyone is interested in running, please, please send in the nominations ASAP. Use the nominations they send out during the thanksgiving weekend. If you are interested in running and looking for a nomination form, send me a message.
     
  2. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    As cogs said, it was announced that the next attempt for the SWHOA annual meeting will be held on January 16, 2014 at 7:00 at Mill Run. Official notification of the meeting is likely forthcoming in a mailer, again with a proxy form. Mailing/faxing/emailing a candidate form to First Service right away should get you on the mailed proxy. Hopefully, people take this opportunity to get non-incumbents onto the mailed proxy.

    The SWHOA Board still needs to determine what happens if there again are not enough submitted proxies/meeting attendees to reach a quorum. Hopefully, inclusion of additional candidates and/or a meeting that is not right before the holidays will achieve a quorum.

    The SWHOA Board also mentioned that First Service has an email list that the Board occasionally uses to uses for communication, such as notification of the December 19 annual meeting (SWHOA pays per mailing/per email address, though). The First Service list is a little over 300 email address. The Board noted to contact First Service if you want to get on the SWHOA email list.
     
  3. sharse

    sharse TeamDonzi rocks!!

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    I would like the powers that be to note that proper notice may not be going out to homeowners. Our house was completed in October, 2004, and the "then-owner" quickly flipped it and we were under contract in November and closed in January, 2005. We are STILL getting notices from Armstrong under the former-owner's name. He owned it for less than 3 months, we've owned it for about 9 years.
     
  4. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    I'm not a power to be, but I think you would need to contact First Service (formerly Armstrong) to make the change. Of course, I'm sure they will charge the SWHOA to make the change to correct their records.
     
  5. cogs

    cogs Well-Known Member

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    I suggest contacting First Service Management Agent Amy Phillips and Erika Cotti, President of SWHOA. Their contact info is in our inbox on this site.
     
  6. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    I just read in the December Broadlands HOA newsletter (page 5) that the Broadlands HOA now has The Broadlands Blast, an e-bulletin to provide community news between monthly newsletters. Sign up by emailing Blast@broadlandshoa.com. Nice job by the Broadlands HOA for trying to further increase the information flow within Broadlands.

    During the December 2013, non-official annual SWHOA meeting, a SWHOA Board member noted the cost of the using the First Service email blasts as a means of communication, limiting the SWHOA's use of email blasts. Either Broadlands HOA budgeted into the 2014 budget to pay First Service per email/email address or the HOA found a different solution for this monthly communication. Either way, kudos to the Broadlands HOA for the initiative.
     
  7. cogs

    cogs Well-Known Member

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    "Cost" is their standard argument for justifying sparse communication with the members. SWHOA is charging us monthly $8.26 (according to the numbers quoted by Snoopy in the Coupon Books thread) in addition to Openband Charges. That is about $110k/year for business costs.

    For this HOA, blowing nearly half a million $$$ incompetent litigation is OK, but spending couple of hundred dollars for email communications is prohibitive. What a twisted logic!
     
  8. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    Has an official announcement been made for the the next attempt for the SWHOA annual meeting? January 16 is rapidly approaching and I have not yet received the meeting notice and the proxy. Even if homeowners receive the proxy tomorrow, they do not have much turn-around time to mail in the proxy form.
     
  9. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    yet... the HOA has email list capabilities as part of the services we already provide as the tech committee... wouldn't cost SWHOA anything.
     
  10. T8erman

    T8erman Well-Known Member

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    The SWHOA and BHOA working together?!?!?!
    :bigeek:
     
  11. cogs

    cogs Well-Known Member

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    Are you kidding me?
    Under the current stewardship, SWHOA will never work with BHOA. Just couple of weeks ago, they were claiming BHOA is controlled by the developer. That is their state of mind.
     
  12. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    SW HOA Bylaws require that written notice of the Annual Meeting be received by each member 10 to 60 days prior to the meeting.
    So, if written noticed of a Jan 16th meeting hadn't been received by members YESTERDAY, the meeting is invalid.
    Whoever presides over such meeting will have to show PROOF that such notice was given.
    If not, the meeting is not valid and any decision/action that occurs can be challenged.
    But then, I could be wrong.
     
  13. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    The first attempt at the annual meeting (Dec 19) had much less than 60 days of written notice.
     
  14. Zeratul

    Zeratul Well-Known Member

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    Cliff said 10-60 days notice period.... so the first one was ok I think, but does this still require a "new" notice since the Jan 16 meeting is a re-schedule? I am sure that is the assumption.
     
  15. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    Thanks, somehow I missed reading the "10 to" in Cliff's post. Nonetheless, the notice/proxy needs to be mailed if there is to be any chance (at this point, there is no chance) to get to the ~111 people to achieve a quorum, unlesss the SWHOA board was able to obtain notice from the lawyers that a quorum is not needed for the second attempt in order to have an official annual meeting. In that case, the votes will be limited to the few people who know about the (potential) meeting on Jan 16 because they attended the last meeting, learned from the postings on this forum, or by heard by word of mouth. That would be a shame if that is how the annual meeting is conducted and three SWHOA board members are elected.
     
  16. beahmer

    beahmer Member

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    Got mine today... not 10 days... Assume the blame will be on First Service.. Noticed same candidates... Weren't there folks looking to run? Surely between Dec 19th and Jan7th they could have had their bio in the mailing.
     
  17. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    Brian- The lengths they are going to to keep anyone else OFF the list of candidates is nothing short of astounding.
     
  18. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    I received the ballot today. I'm curious to know when the Board of Directors approved to amend the Bylaws Article III, Section 3.5 (b) changing the delinquency restriction for a candidate from 60 days to 12 months preceding the election.
     
  19. Zeratul

    Zeratul Well-Known Member

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    Where did you see that change in the bylaws? Was that in the packet? And while this does not necessarily surprise me that they would try everything possible to keep Sashi off the Board... I sure hope other people weigh in on this at the meeting. But in my basic understanding of the process...the Board can change the bylaws however and whenever they want? There are dozens of reasons why an HOA board would change a provision like this, but the transparency (or lack of) this move with OUR Board is painful....and sad.
     
  20. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    Zeratul, It looks like as long as they are in control of the board, they can do whatever they want as there is no "checks and balances" or "oversight" of this organization. Several people in this neighborhood told me that they strongly believe that a high percentage of this community doesn't care or doesn't want to get involved in the SWHOA affairs. Too many people here are willing to spend whatever it takes to live in this county (Loudoun is known for being one of the richest counties in Northern Virginia). So it is safe to say that this is going to continue unabated. I doubt seriously that many people will come to the meeting. We have a SIGNIFICANT number of homeowners that are SWHOA members but MANY don't bother to come to the meetings. It is an indication that whatever the board does is met with silent approval (or indifference) by the large number of residents. In short, there is a high level of apathy in this community when it comes to SWHOA affairs.

    I can see that the Broadlands HOA is much more communicative as they do post them to every resident's account on the web. I didn't realize that they do put them in the document repository on the BHOA's management website. I went through most of them last night and was impressed at how well the Broadlands HOA board is managed and how they strive to keep the communication channels open whereas there was a dearth of meeting minutes/communication on SWHOA. They've stopped awhile back--I assume because of the lawsuits and fear that OB will get to them (how can they through the management company is what I am wondering).

    I found it unusual that a HOA would create a bylaw changing the delinquency restrictions to 12 months preceding the elections.. To me, that's one piece of shrewdness there in their effort to maintain status quo on the board membership because I assume they probably know that not many people who are up to date on their accounts won't bother to run anyway. I think the only way to really effect a change on the board is when a SIGNIFICANT amount of residents get involved.

    Heck, the last time I saw a SIGNIFICANT amount of residents at any of the meetings was back in 2010 at a elementary school cafeteria during the early days of the OB fight/lawsuit. Thereafter, I have never seen any meetings with THAT many members. Won't suprise me if even more restrictive by-laws are passed unhindered that will further consolidate and strengthen their power and tenure on the board.
     

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